Embodiments of the invention relate to authenticating a device (e.g., an unknown device) based on communication patterns in a group of devices. The devices may be Internet of Things (IoT) devices
The Internet of Things (IoT) may be described as a group of devices that are connected to the Internet and communicate with each other and/or the rest of the internet. Each of the devices typically has electronics and software to enable that device to collect information and communicate that information with other devices. For example, a device may have a sensor to receive, as well as, track information.
A problem in IOT inter-device communication is establishing the identity of a first device that is requesting the access of a second device. Sometimes the accessing, first device is part of the same cluster of devices as the second device. Sometimes the accessing, first device is located in the same physical network as the second device. In other cases, the accessing, first device may be somewhere in the network and establishing its identity may be difficult. In yet other cases, the accessing, first device may infect one of the known devices and may try to access another device either pretending to be a known device or piggybacking on a known device to access that other device.
However, allowing an unauthenticated device to have access to data of another device may have implications on the system, such as unauthorized access of the data, system to system failure, takeover of a device by a malicious intruder (e.g., the unauthenticated device), etc.